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Singer Robin Thicke regrets the timing of his Blurred Lines copyright trial, insisting his testimony was "careless" because he was reeling from his marriage split.

The hitmaker and his collaborator Pharrell Williams were ordered to hand over $7 million (GBP4.6 million) to the family of the late Marvin Gaye after a jury ruled the two stars had stolen elements from the soul legend's 1977 hit Got To Give It Up for their own 2013 chart-topper.

Thicke and Williams are currently appealing the verdict and the singer insists the Gaye family's legal team will face a very different defendant if he gets the chance to testify again.

During the three-week trial in February and March (15), Thicke attempted to distance himself from the song's creation, claiming he was often high and drunk as Williams was developing Blurred Lines, and merely attempted to take credit for the song after it became a huge hit.

Now he tells The New York Times, "I didn’t give my all to the trial. It simply wasn’t as important to me as what was going on in my personal life. I was lost at the time. I had lost my way."

Thicke's divorce from actress Paula Patton was finalized in the weeks after the trial.

He also tells the Times he opted to take a break from showbusiness a year ago (Jun14) after a regrettable night at the BET Awards where he serenaded his then-estranged wife with one of the songs dedicated to her on his last album, Paula.

He recalls, "What I thought was romantic was just embarrassing, so I shut everything down. I took some time off to be with my son and to be with my family and close friends. And the more time I took off, the more everything became clear."